Coming Soon: A New Downtown Village

Years in the making, Lemon Grove took a giant step toward the future Thursday as the city started the first phase of a redevelopment project aimed at creating a new Downtown Village.

But before the new goes up, the old has to come down. Such was the fate of the Pin Up Girl Photography building, bulldozed Thursday in front of a nostalgic crowd of supporters to make way for a new Lemon Grove.

Picture this—shaded walkways lined with park benches where you can relax with a snack or catch up with friends; a plaza that brings together the city’s past, present and future with sustainable features and public art; a clean, modern transit center bustling with residents from around the region coming to shop, dine or enjoy a farmers market.

That is the vision of a new downtown corridor revitalized by the Main Street Promenade, the $5.1 million redevelopment project that officially began Thursday with a demolition ceremony at the site of the new linear park, just across from the trolley station.

 “We had a vision for a downtown area with a very specific dream, and its taken us a long time, almost 20 years, to get here,” Mayor Mary Sessom told the crowd gathered to watch the demolition begin. “But this is just the start of it—it is not the end of it.”

The first phase of construction will focus on removal of a block of vacant buildings. Construction of the promenade park is scheduled to break ground in January, and be completed by the summer of 2012. The city plans to continue remaking the area according to its Downtown Village Specific Plan, with revitalization efforts moving along Lemon Grove Avenue.

“This is the cornerstone of our plan,” Sessom says. “And it’s perfect because it starts at the edge of town—and we’re going to move it down on this side of Lemon Grove Avenue until we have no other place to go.”

Financing for the redevelopment project was obtained through $4.5 million in grants from the state infill infrastructure program, as well as smart growth initiative funds awarded by SANDAG. The balance is coming from the city's redevelopment agency monies.

“This is the poster child of redevelopment, this is what redevelopment is supposed to do,” City Manager Graham Mitchell says. “Very few redevelopment dollars went into this, but we were able to match those dollars and get grants and private investment and make a big difference in the city of Lemon Grove.”

Sessom says the city is fulfilling its destiny, rathan than losing some of its history.

"It’s kind of sad seeing the memories disappear, but it’s also exciting knowing that it’s making way for something that’s really going to kickstart this economy in our city," she says.

"You know history is like that—it always renews itself and right now we’re renewing Lemon Grove."